Self-propelling vehicle.



Nq. 634,067. Y A Patonted lIlct.4 3., R899. R. H. PLASS.

SELF PRDFELLINE VEHICLE.

(Amal canon tied Jan. 9 1590 Sheets-Sheet 2,

(Ik:y Nudel.)

nu. 634,067. i Painted on. s, 1899.'.

n. H. PLAss.

SELFVA PRUPELLHG VEHICLE.

(Aypximm am nu. -9, 1699.) (No Modal.) l 7 Sheets-Sheet 3.

@www y Mkwom me mms mens mam-Limo. wnsumor. ay

un. 634,067. Patented oct. 3, |399.

A n. u. PLAss. .SELF PROPELLING VEHICLE.

{Appumion am Ju. 9, 1899.) Y (lo Model.) 7 Shasta-Sheet 4,

mth/6.51565.- Y jnvennr.- mam. Q

Mmomb Q; Mq'.: D

1m: Aww Uns an. namumo. wnvmwrlron. a. c.

n. n. PLAsS. SELF PuPaLLma VEHICLE.

(Applicatin iisd I'ln. 9, 1399.)

7 smh-sms s'.

[No Hedel.)

llzllllll/ll/.rllilltrlll r//l/ll/l//l/l/l//l/l lllllllzrlrlllllllll/Iil llill/11111111111lllllllllllllllll rm: nanars #niks ceA Pnomzmlo. wmssnug'rum u. n.

Patented Oct. 3, |399.

` 1 Sheeta-Shaet G.

R. H. PLASS.

SELF PRUPELLING VEHIC (Application filed Jus. 9, 1899.

(lio leds!) mc' seams mins ca. mmmmac.. Mmwuon. u. c.

9 m 3.. c 0 d e t n. e t, a P S A v.L n.. H. R. 7. 6 o 4 3 6 0. N

-stF PnoPELLms vsmcLE.

ffw'eno A f/f/Ww W/W nu: wams rltruu w. Monzuno., Mmmm, u. c.

a plan view of a 'car-truck having my inven- 1 zen of the United States, residing' at Newv longitudinal section thro'u'gh'the engine. Fig.

,State of New Yoilghave invented certain new I connected with pistons AX.

f `UNITED STATES REUBEN n. PLAss, or NEWfYoRmN. YLfAssieNoaTo f Y. y or SAME PLACE. 'f

y PATENT i OFFICE.

ISABELLA C. PLASS,

SELF-l PRO PELLING VEHICLE.

sPEcInIoArroiv naming para of Letters Patent N. 634,067, dated 'october e, 1899.

lApplication filed January 9,1899.

To coll whom, t nifty concern.:

Beit known that I, REUBEN vl-I. PLASS, aciti- York, (Brooklyn,) in tliepcunty of Kings and and useful Improvements in Self-Propelling Vehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, suchas will `enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains toY make and use the same. I

This invention relates to motor-vehicles, and has reference more particularly to sell"- propelling street-cars, the aim o f the invention beingr to provide'for the prompt and easy l conlrclbf the motion of the car.

The invention consists of an improved driving mechanism by which the car may be started, stopped, reversed, and driven at varying'speeds,` as will be fully described herein-l after.

The invention also consists in the details of constructionand combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis tion embodied therein. Fig'. 2 is a sidev elevation of one end ofa carembodying my invention. Fig. 3 isa side elevation of the op-V posite end of the ear. Fig.r 4 is an end elevation of the same. iFig. 5 is a transverse sectional elevation. f Figs. 6, 7, and 8 areside elevations of the driving' mechanism, showing the dierentpositions' of the same for driving the car forward,'backvard, and stopping it. Fig. 9 isa inodilied form of the driving Inechanism.- Fig. 10 is a horizontal l1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the same.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a form of engine or motor which I prefer to employ, the saine being provided with twocylinders A', arranged e'nd to end and connected to a central casing A2, in which is mounted a main driving-shaft B. The shaft is divided, and the two sections-have Iixed to them within the'ca'sing'fly-wheels B B', connected by a crank-pin B2, having joined to itthe inner ends of piston-rods'a,whose outer ends are These parts are mounted on a truclrsustainingthe car-body oted in the' lateral passages 0%.

Serial Noi 701,641. (No model.)

and sustained in turn by wheels H II H Il', adapted to travel on the track. Each cylinder has in its outer end an Aopening a2, communicating with. the cylinder by a lateral passage ad, the opening being controlled by van yinwardly-opening spring-seated checkinlet-valvesare situated outlet-valveso1 for A .the escape of the products of combustion,

whichvalves 'have their stemsextending in- Ward'toward the driving-shaft and are acted on by spiral springs n.41, Which tend to hold them yieldingly to their seats. They are opened against the force of the springs when ,the pistons `arrive at the end of the outer stroke by rods a5, mounted to slide in guides in the casing A? and operated by an eccentric groove in the outer face of the fly-wheel B', in which groove pins on the rods extend.

The spark necessary for the explosion of the charge in the-cylinder is furnished by dynamo E, mounted on the truck and receiving motion'from the main shaft of a belt e. One pole of the dynamo is connected by a conductor e with binding-posts es, situated in the endsof the cylinders and electrically connected with contact-fingers e4, extending through the ends of the cylinders and terminating within the saine, the binding posts and fingers being of course insulated in the usual manner. The other pole ofthe dynamo .is connected by the conductor e2 with the casing of the cylinder, and from the'casing the current passes -to two contact-levers e5, pivends of the levers are in position to contact with the ngers e4, While the opposite ends of the levers are engaged by the outlet-valves c?, the arrangement being such that when the outlet-valves are opened to permit the escape ofthe products of combustion the levers will The lower" roo be rocked and their lower ends separated from the contact fingers. The levers are rocked to contact with the lingers by means of springs e7, bearing against the upper ends of the same and serving to rock the levers when the outlet-valves are closed and cause their lower ends to Contact with the fingers and form the spark. By this arrangement the outlet-valve controls the sparking action of the lever, so that the spark will not be formed until-the outlet-valve is closed, at which time the piston is at the outer end of the cylinder compressing the charge.

In the event of the failureof the dynamo to operateI propose to provide for thc sparking of the charge by electric batteries E2, situated at one end of the ear with its poles connected, respectively, by conductors eT and es with the conductors e2 and c".

Loosely mounted on the driving-shaft is a pulley G, having a peripheral friction-face and forming a part of the means for communicating motion from the engine to the driv-r ing-wheels ofthe car, and in order that the engine may be run continuously and the d riv-` ingwhcels moved only when desired the pulley is connected to the shaft by a clutch formed by a wheelr G1, keyed to the outer end of the shaft to slide thereon and having a tapering face designed to enter a correspondingly-formed opening g in the outer face of the pulley. The wheelG/ is'provided `with a hub g2, formed with a circumferential groove g2, receiving pins g1 on a lever G2, by which means the wheel may be slid back and forth on the shaft to contact with the pulley or disengage the same. The lower end of the lever is pivoted to the frame of the car, and at its upper end it is provided with a strap g5, encircling an eccentric g5, mounted on a rockshaft g?, extendinglongitudinally the length of the car and having on its ends beveled gears g2. These gears engage beveled gear Q10 on the upper end of vertical shaftsl g at the opposite ends of the car, which shafts have fixed to their lower ends beveled gears g11, 'and these latter engage gears g12 on the inner ends of horizontal longitudinal shafts Q11, whose outer ends are geared by wheels Q13 and g11 on the lower ends of vertical shafts Q15, mounted on the platforms of the car. The upper ends of these shafts are provided with handles g1 to be manipulated by the attendant.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that by turning the handles in the proper direction the vparts of the clutch may be connected or disconnected and the friction-pulley g caused to rotate with the driving-shaft or remain at rest, as desired. It is obvious that this construction admits of varying the speed of the pulley by varying the force with which the parts of the clutch are brought together.

The pulley g is provided on each side of its friction-face with reduced surfaces encircled by collars 7L' h', having laterally-projecting armsy h2 lr". On the axles of the driving wheels are loosely mounted frames H2 H2, and each frameis provided with a pin h1, entering a slot in the lateral arm h3, the arrangement being such that the movement of the arms will rock the frames.

H2H4 represent friction-wheels mounted loosely on the frames` the wheels H3 being so arranged as toconstantly maintain cont-act with friction-wheels H H on the wheels H, and the wheels H4 are mounted so as to maintain contact with the wheels H3. The position of friction-wheel G relative to that of the frames H2 is such that by the movement of the frames up or down the wheels H3 HA1 will be brought successively in contact with the wheel G. On one of the frames H2 the wheel H3 is mounted in its upper end andthe wheel HL1 in the lower end, while on the other this arrangement is reversed, the result being that when the friction-wheel G ismoved in the direction indicated by thefarrow in Fig.

-6 and the collars 7L rocked to bring the friction-wheels H8 in contact with t-hefrictionwheel G and wheels H H the driving-wheels H will be driven in the direction indicated by the arrows and imparty to the car a forward movement. If now the collars are rocked to the position'shown in Fig. ,8, the wheels H2 will be moved in contact with the wheels H and the wheels H4 will be moved in contact with the friction-wheel Gr, the result being that the motion of the car will be reversed.` Vhen the parts are moved in an intermediate position, as shown in Fig. 7, both the wheels H3 and H4 will be free to the .friction-wheel G and the car will come to a stop.

In order to effect the manipulation of the parts to thus control the motion of the car, I connect with the vertical arm H2 a rod H5, extending longitudinally of the car and terminating adjacent to the platforms, where it is provided on each end with a rack HG1, engaged by a segment-gear H6, fixed to the upper end of ay vertical shaft HT, geared to a horizontal longitudinal shaft H8, extending beneath the platform and in turn geared to the lower end of a verticalshaft H9, having at its upper end a lever H1o for manipulating it. The lever H10 is provided with a pointer H11, beneath which is arranged a dial H12, so that the attendant is enabled to operate the lever in a proper direction for driving the car forward or reverse its motion or bring the same to a stop.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a brake mechanism and means whereby it may be operated by hand or by air-pressure from the air-reservoir; but this mechanism forms no part of the present invention. It will be mani fest, therefore, that other forms of brakes may be used without in any manner modifying or limiting my present invention, which is based on the driving devices and the means for controlling their operation, as described. This brake mechanism (shown IOO IIO

more particularly in Figs. 2, 2l, and 5) .consists of a wheel-brake t' and track-brakes QF, adjacent vto and connected with the Wheel-brakes shaft.

to be operated simultaneously. The trackbrakes are connected withthe wheel-brakes by links i5 and are joined to plates i4, movable vertically and suspended by toggle-links t2, which are connected by a rod 11 with'vertical levers 15, situated at each end of the car.V The toggle-levers are connected also with the respective ends of two horizontal levers l, pivoted between their ends at opposite ends of the car in orderto cause the simultaneous movement of all the brakes.

To operate the brakes by air-pressure, l conneet one of the levers 1 with the piston of an air-cylinder 17, communicating with the airreservoir by pipe IS, in which is located a cock from which projects an' operating-rod 11, having two vertical arms 1,11. From' these arms -rods 112 extend in opposite directions to the ends of the car, where they are jointed to rocking levers 115, connected by rods 114 with the lower ends of operating-levers 113, mounted on the platforms.

1n Fig.' 9 I-have shown a modified form of the driving mechanism shown in Figs. 6, '/T, and S. In this modification instead of using friction-wheels, as described, gear-wheels M2 M8 are mounted andoperated similar tothe friction-wheels to operatein conjunction with gear-wheels M1M1 on the axle of the drivingwheels and a gear-wheel M-Qn the engine- In this case it is necessary to operate the clutch to disconnect the wheel M5 before the gears are engaged; otherwise there' would be danger of injuryto the teeth. 'In this case also the speed of the driving-wheel may be regulated by manipulating the clutch to bring the parts more or less closely together.

To prevent the cylinders of the engine from becoming overheated from the explosion of the charge,1 provide a water-tank N, Fig. 1,' which is connected by suitablepipes N N with jackets snrronndin g the cylinders in such manner that a circulation' of water around the cylinders may be effected.

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isj l. A self-propelling car comprising a motorengine, a shaft driven by theengine and provided with a friction-wheel axles arranged adjacent to the shaft oneach side thereof 4and provided with friction-wheels, movable frames onek on each axle and provided with two friction-wheels, one of said wheels being constantly in contact with the friction-wheel on its axle-and both being capable of being moved intoand ont of contact with the friction-Wheel on the shaft driven by the motorengine, the wheels on Aeach frame being incontact with each other, and the wheels .on the respective frames being oppositely arranged, substantially as described.

` 2. Aself-propellingcar comprisingamotorengine, a shaft driven bythe engine and provided with a friction-Wheel, axles arranged adjacent to theshaft andA provided with fric-- tion-wheels, movable frames arranged one on each axle and each provided with two .friction-wheels mounte'd to contact' with each other, one of said wheels being in constant contact with the friction-wheel on its axle, and both being capable of being moved into and out of contact with the-friction-wh eel on the engine-shaft, the positions of the Wheels on one frame being the'reverse of that on the other, Aand a frame mounted on the engineshaft and having arms connected t the' frames carrying the wheels, whereby by shifting the frame the positions ofthe Wheels on the frame will bechanged, substantially as described.

3. Aself-propellingcarcomprising a motorengine, a shaft driven by the engine and provided with a friction-wheel axles arranged adjacent to the shaft and provided with friction-wheels movable frames arranged one on eacli axle and provided with two frictionwheelsl mounted to contact with each otherV one of said wheels being in constant contact Witlrthe friction-Wheel on its axle, and both being capable of being moved into and out of contact with the friction-wheel on the engineshaft, and a frame mounted on the engineshaft and having arms connected to the frames carrying the wheels, the frame being vprovided with a projection, levers mounted at the ends of a car, and a rod connecting the levers and the projection on the frame whereby by moving the levers the positions of the Wheels on the frames Will be changed, substantiall y`A as described.

4. A self-propelling car comprising a motorengin'e, a shaftdriven Aby the engine and provided with a friction-wheel having reducedV portions, a'frame mounted on the reduced portions and capable of turning thereon, the

frame being provided with arms having openings therein, axles arranged on opposite sides of the engine-shaft and provided with friction-Wheels movable frames mounted one on each axle, each one being provided with two' friction-wheels mounted to contact with each other one of said wheels being in constant contact with the friction-wheel .on its axle, and both being capable ofvbeing moved into and out of contact with the friction-wheel on the shaft, the frames bearing the wheels be- TOO IOS

IIO

wheels,1novable frames arranged one. on

each axle and provided with two frictionwheels mounted to contact with cach other, one of said Wheels being in constant contact with the friction-Wheel on its axle and both being capable of being moved Vinto and out ot contact with the friction-Wheel on the engine-shaft the positions of the wheels on 'one frame being the reverse of that on the other, a frame mounted on a shaft and having arms connected to the frames carrying the Wheels, the frame being provided with a projection, levers mounted at the ends of the car and rods connecting the levers and the projection on the frame, substantially as described.

6. A self-propellingcar comprising a motorengine, a shaft driven by the engine and provided With a friction-Wheel mounted loosely on the shaft, the lfriction-Wheel being provided with a conical opening, a sliding block provided. with a projection corresponding to the opening in the friction-Wheel and with a circumferential groove, an arm having pins entering the groove, an eccentric for operating the arm, levers mounted on the ends of the car and connected with the eccentric, axles arranged adjacent to the shaft and provided With friction-wheels, movable frames arranged one on each axle and provided with two friction-Wheels mounted to contact with each other one of said Wheels being in constant contact with the friction-wheel on its axle, and both being capable of being moved into or out of contact with the friction-Wheel on the engine-shaft a frame mounted on the engine-shaft and having arms connected to the frames carrying the friction-Wheels, and

means for moving the frames, substantially as described.

7. In a motor-car, the combination .with the motor, of adrive-wheel operated thereby, two driven Wheelsone on each side ot the drive-Wheel and operatively connected With the track-Wheels, two movable frames, a-

transmitting-Wheel and an idler-Wheel mounted loosely in each frame in engagement with each other and oppositely disposed, the said transmitting-Wheels being constantly in engagement with the respective driven wheels, and the idlers being adapted to be engaged With or disconnected from the driving-Wheel.

8. In a motor-car, the combination With the motor, of a drive-Wheel operated thereby, two driven wheels one on each side of the drive-Wheel and operatively connected With the track-Wheels, two frames pivoted respectively on the vaxes of the driven wheels and extending inward, transmitting-Wheels mounted respectively in the said frames and oppositely disposed and engaging the drivingwheels, idler-Wheels also mounted in the respective frames in engagement with the transmitting-Wlieels, and means for rocking said frames; whereby the idlers may be engaged with or disconnected from the driving-Wheel as desired.

In testimony whereof I aftix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

REUBEN I-I. PLASS.

Nitnessesz i THOMAS BRADLEY, BOYD TAYLOR. 

